Foundation garment and element therefor



Aug. 26, I952 c, R. ANDERSON FOUNDATION GARMENT AND ELEMENT THEREFORFiled Jan. 4..1950

/NVE/V7o.e CAEEOLL fi/llvosesolv Patented Aug. 26, 1952 2,608,078 V aFOUNDATIONGARMENT AND ELEMENT r THEREFOR Carroll R. Anderson,Minneapolis,'Minn., assignor to'Munsingwear, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn., a

corporation of Delaware Application January 4, 1950, Serial No. 136,722

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in fabrics, andmore particularly to a novel fabric which has the inherentcharacteristic of being capable of being shaped into various forms bythe application of heat thereto.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending applicationSerial No. 714,815, filed December 7, 1946, and now abandoned.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a fabric,preferably of the knitted type, composed of one or more natural orsynthetic cellulosic threads such as cotton threads or viscose oracetate rayon threads, and a thermoplastic yarn or thread composed offilaments of a copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, wherebywhen the fabric is completed, it may be rendered dense and semi-stiff bythe application of heat thus providing a fabric which readily lendsitself for use in various forms of body supporting garments as, forexample, brassieres, foundation garments, and the like.

A further object is to provide a fabric composed of a plurality ofthreads suitably interknitted or interwoven with one another to providea composite fabric, one of said threads being constructed, of a suitablematerial capable of being activated by the subsequent application ofheat to the resultant fabric, whereby the fabric, or portions thereofmay be formed into various shapes by simply placing it over a suitableform, orforms, and applying heat and probably pressure to the fabricwhile supported on the form, and which shape the fabric will retainunder all ordinary use after the fabric is permitted to cool.

A further object is to provide a fabric which readily lends itself foruse in the construction of body supporting garments such as brassieres,foundation garments, and the like, in that the fabric has the inherentcharacteristic of readily being rendered semi-stiff or rigid, by thesimple application of heat thereto, and with the assurance theso-treated fabric will retainits original appearance and Will have amplepliability to enable it to adapt itself more or less to the shape orcontourof those portions of the body to be supported or constrainedthereby, and whereby bust-supporting pockets may be formed in suchgarments asbrassieres without gores, and in most cases without seams,thereby making it possible to produce such a garment which will providethe utmost in comfort to the wearer, and will be economical andinexpensive to manufacture.

Another object of this invention is to provide a fabric, preferably arib knitted fabric, com- 2 Claims. (Cl. 66176) posed of one or morenatural or syntheticceL lulosic threads and a thermoplastic yarn orthread composed of filaments of a copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinylacetate characterized in that the completed fabric or any selected areathereof may be subjected to heat; and, if desired, pressure to softenand shape the vinyl co- 1 polymer yarn or thread which latter yarn orthread,'be"cause of the unique properties of the vinyl copolymer, willshrink materially thus providing, upon cooling, a compact and densesemirigid area capable of supporting a portion of the body of the wearerof the fabric with which it is in contact.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a rib knittedfabric composed of one or more natural or synthetic cellulosic threadsand a thermoplastic yarn or thread composed of filaments of a copolymerof vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate wherein the cellulosic threads areplated over the vinyl copolymer yarn or thread so that only cellulosicthread appears on the outer faces of the fabric thus providing a fabrichaving absorbent surfaces that are comfortable to the wearer of garmentsformed from the fabric.

A still further object is to provide a fabric which may be readilyembodied in the construction of foundation garments to 'take'theplace ofthe usual separable bones or stiffening elements, now commonly embodiedin such garments for providing the necessary support and con strainingeffects upon the body, my novelfabric, before being heat treated, havingsubstantially the same characteristics, as to softness and pliabilityasthe material from which the body of the garment may be made, so that itmay be sewed 'into the garment either in a single or double thickness,as may be required, after which heat and pressure may be applied theretoto render it semi-stiff or rigid so as to provide the necessarysupporting effect upon the body.

Other objects of the invention will appear fromthe following descriptionand the accompanying drawings and will be pointed out in the annexedclaims.

In the accompanying drawings there has been disclosed a structuredesigned to carry out the various objects of the invention, but it is tobe understood that the invention is not confined to the exact featuresshown, as various changes may be made within the scope of the claimswhich follow. 7

Figure 1 is a detail view showing a portion of a knitted fabric, greatlyenlarged, to more clearly Figure 4 is a top view of thebust-supporting". T I

portion of a brassire, showing the ing pockets formed in the fabricFigure 5 is a perspective view of the front bust-supportoperation, asthe thermoplastic vinyl copolymer .thread may be knitted into the fabricsimultaneously with the cotton or viscose or acetate rayon threads 2,with conventional equipment and without complications.

The important feature of the present invention,

' asthereinbefore stated, resides in the combination with'the usualcellulosic threads of a. knitted fabric, of a thermoplastic vinylcopolymer thread which may be activated by the subsequent ..application.of heat to the completed fabric,

tion of a brassiere in which the bust-supporting portions are ofslightly different shape;

Figure 6 is a view showing the invention embodied in a foundationgarment. p

The novel fabric herein disclosed is best illustrated in Figures 1 and2, wherein it is shown greatly enlarged in order to more clearlyillustrated the simple construction thereof.- .In the presentdisclosure, the fabric is shown comprising twothreads, 2 and 3, whichmaybe simultaneously knitted into each course A, B, C and D of the fabric,in a manner well known in the art, to provide a knitted fabric. v a

The important feature of the present invention resides in interknittingathermoplastic yarn or thread composed of a'syntheticresinous-materialcapable of shrinking materially upon-the application of heat theretowith natural or synthetic cellulosic threads. In Figures 1 and 2, thecellulosic thread, which may be cotton or viscose or acetate rayon orany other suitable synthetic cellulose derivative, is designated by thenumeral 2, r

and vthe heat-shrinkable thermoplastic yarn .or thread is designated bythe numeral 3. The thermoplastic synthetic resinous yarn or thread iscomposed of filaments ofa copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetatewhich is sold under the trade name Vinyonf? The yarns or threads of thisvinyl resin copolymer possess the property of shrinking materially uponthe application of heat thereto which property provides one of theoutstanding advantages of this invention. Other I thermoplastic resinousyarns or threads are capable'of shrinking upon the application of heatas, .forexample, nylon but none of the other available thermoplasticresinous threads will shrink upon heating to a degreesuificient'toproduce the results obtained with the vinyl copolymerthreads. The cellulosic thread 2 and-the vinyl copolymer thread 3 may beinterknitted into the fabric simultaneously by methods which are wellknown. .In Figures 1 and 2 the vinyl copolymer thread is shown knittedinto all ofthe wales in each course, but it is to be understood thatthis thread may be occasionally floated or otherwise knitted into thefabric in a manner to produce various ornamental effects. It ispreferred, however, to plate the *cellulosic thread over thevinyl'copoly mer thread to produce a fabric wherein only cellulosicthreads appear on the outer faces of the fabric. A fabric isthusprovided which has absorbent faces which are more comfortable to thewearer of garments formed from the fabric due to the absorption of bodymoisture by'an absorbent faceof the fabric. While this feature has beenshown in Figures 1 and 2 in a one and one rib knit fabric, the sameadvantages may be obtained in two and two rib knit fabrics, three andthree rib knit fabricsand other common forms of rib knit fabrics.

Theinterknitting of the thermoplastic thread into the fabric does notcomplicate the knitting Qwhereby the resultant fabric provides an idealone P for use in the construction of brassires, founda- I: tiongarments, and the like, as shown in Figures 3 to 6, inclusive, althoughit is to be understood the fabric may also find use in the construction7 of other articles, when applicable.

Because of the introduction of the thermoplastic vinyl copolymer threadin the fabric, the fabric may be placed over a suitable form andwhen'heated to a certain temperature, it will soften, shrink and readilyadapt itself to the contour'of the form and will retain such shape, whencooled;

The fabrics 'of'this invention'are activated by subjecting them to atemperature of about 240 F. The vinyl copolymer yarn or thread which hasbeen introduced into the fabric as described softens and shrinks whenheated to this temperature. The soft yarn or thread may be shaped in anydesired manner on a form. The cellulosic threads of the fabric controlthe degree of shrinkage of the vinyl copolymer thread and producesubstantially uniform shrinkage throughout the area subjected to heat.The shrinkage of the vinyl copolymer thread, however, tends to bring thecellulosic threads together thus compacting and densifying the heatedarea. When the heated area is permitted to cool the shape impartedthereto is retained and this area has been rendered dense, compact andsemi-rigid. When heated to a temperature of about 240 and allowed tocoolthe vinyl copolymer threads become set so that normal washing andpressing of a-garment formed of the fabric will not alter the desiredshape and properties of'the heat treated areas: The dense, compact,semi-rigid areas are pliable but possess the rigidity necessary tosupport portions of"the body of the wearer of a garment formed from thefabric. Greatly added strength'and increased ability to support portionsof the body are accomplished by the shrinking effect above described.

In Figures 3 and 4 there is shown the bust-supporting portion of abrassiere, generally designated by the'numeral 4, having bust-receivingcups or pockets'fi and'6 formed therein by simply placingthe fabric oversuitable forms and applying suflicient heat (240 F.) thereto to causethe vinyl copolymer threads of the fabric to soften and shrink,whereupon'the fabric will retain its shape upon cooling, and such shapewill be permanent unless the fabric is again subjected to a temperaturesufficiently high' to cause the vinyl copolymer threads to soften. Thecopolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate from which'the thread 3 ismade requires a relatively higher temperature to soften it than theusual temperature of laundry water. The preformed portions of garmentsformed from the fabrics of this invention will, therefore, retain theirshape even though frequently passed through conventional launderingprocesses.

In Figure 5 the invention is shown embodied in a brassiere "l ofslightly different form, it being understood that the entire body of thebrassire, as shown in Figure 5, may be made from the same fabric inwhich portions only have been heattreated and preformed to providepartial bustsupporting cups or pockets, as indicated at 8.

In Figure 6, there is shown a foundation garment 9 of conventionalconstruction comprising a waistline l0 and having the usual garterstraps ll secured to the lower edge thereof, as is well known.

The entire body of the garment shown in Figure 6, may, if desired, beconstructed from a single tubular blank of fabric in which a vinylcopolymer thread has been interknitted in conjunction with thecellulosic threads constituting the fabric of the garment, ashereindisclosed.

In a foundation garment, it is common to stiffen certain portions of thegarment to provide the desired support for the wearers body. Heretofore,this has usually been accomplished by embodying in the garmentstiffening bones or elements, which require the construction of suitablepockets for their reception.

By utilizing the novel fabric herein disclosed, any desired portion orarea of the body of the garment may -be quickly stiffened or madesemirigid to provide the necessary supporting effect, by simply applyingheat to the particular areas to be rendered relatively stiffer thanother portions of the body of the garment. This may be readilyaccomplished at low cost by utilization of the present invention and apermanent construction obtained, since the characteristic of the vinylcopolymer used in the thread 3 is such that it cannot become reactivatedwhen the garments are subsequently laundered. Any portion or portions ofthe wall of the body of the garment may be heat-treated to provide thedesired results, as will readily be understood by reference to Figure 5.If the single thickness of the fabric of the garment does not provideadequate stiffness, when heat-treated to stiffen it, the particularportions of the garment to ibe stiffened may readily be rendered more soby simply adding another ply or thickness of the same material to theparticular portions to be stiffened, before heat is applied to suchareas.

In the garment shown in Figure 6, the shaded portions l2 and I3represent portions of the fabric which have been heat-treated to rendersuch portions or areas of the garment body relatively stiffer than theremaining portions thereof,

thereby to provide the desired body supporting effect for such areas.

By knitting a vinyl copolymer thread into the fabric, as hereindisclosed, the inherent characteristic of the fabric will be the same asany knitted fabric, until portions thereof are subj ected to atemperature which is sufficiently high to cause the thermoplasticthreads to become reactivated.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that I have accomplishedat least the principal objects of my invention, and it will also :beapparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments hereindescribed may be variously changed and modified Without departing fromthe spirit of the invention, and that the invention is capable of usesand has advantages not herein specifically described; hence it will beappreciated that the herein disclosed embodiments are illustrative only,and that my invention is not limited thereto.

I claim:

1. A foundation garment having rigid areas adapted to provide supportfor portions of the body of the wearer of said garment, said rigid areasconsisting of a rib knitted fabric, each stitch of said rib knittedfabric comprising a cellulosic thread and a thread consisting of anelastic copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, said copolymerbeing characterized by the property of shrinking upon the application ofheat, said cellulosic thread being plated over said vinyl copolymerthread to provide a rib knitted fabric wherein only cellulosic threadappears on the inner and outer faces of said fabric, said vinylcopolymer thread being heat shrunken to render said fabric dense andrigid.

2. A shaped reinforcing element for a foundation garment said elementconsisting of a rib knitted fabric, each stitch of said rib knittedfabric comprising a cellulosic thread and a thread consisting of anelastic copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, said copolymerbeing characterized by the property of shrinking upon the application ofheat, said cellulosic thread being plated over said vinyl copolymerthread to provide a rib knitted fabric wherein only cellulosic threadappears on the inner and outer faces of said fabric, said vinylcopolymer thread being heat shrunken to render said fabric dense andrigid.

CARROLL R. ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 391,005 Munsing Oct. 9, 18882,304,989 Snowdon Dec. 15, 1942 2,460,674 Bihaly Feb. 1, 1949 2,474,375Shearer et a1. June 28, 1949 2,484,293 Hinchlifi Oct. 11, 1949

